Minutes after the No. 14 LSU women's basketball team's 65-56
victory against Mississippi State in the PMAC Thursday night, the senior
forward hadn't realized just how much she contributed to the win. McKinney
looked on in surprise as a reporter spouted off her statistics, and senior
guard Jeanne Kenney beamed with pride over her teammate's performance.

McKinney exploded for a career-high 19 points on 12-of-12
shooting from the field and the free throw line combined, and grabbed a
team-leading seven rebounds. She also limited Mississippi State junior center
Martha Alwal, the Bulldogs' leading scorer and rebounder, to only eight points
and seven boards.

"Coach [Nikki Caldwell] has always emphasized to me that I need
to be a great offensive rebounder, and tonight it just kind of flourished,"
McKinney said. "That's always been my role; I just went above it tonight."

But it wasn't so much about what McKinney did - rather, it
was when she did it that mattered most to LSU.

The Lady Tigers (17-4, 6-2 Southeastern Conference) trailed
lowly conference foe Mississippi State (15-7, 2-6 SEC) by five points at
halftime after a sluggish opening half. The first 20 minutes were a nightmare
for LSU, which committed turnover after turnover and mustered only 21
first-half points.

The Lady Tigers went into halftime with 15 turnovers, and
every player who touched the court in the first half committed at least one. LSU attempted only five free throws in the opening half, well below its
average of 11.5 attempts per half.

"Coming out, we weren't focused, and those turnovers were
mental mistakes," Kenney said. "In that aspect, we definitely had to clean it
up. We knew what we had to do, and everything was in our control."

The Lady Tigers began the second half by scoring on their
first four possessions, and McKinney erupted for 13 of LSU's first 23
points in the second half to give it a lead it would never relinquish. Kenney
converted on a four-point play with about eight and a half minutes remaining, and the Lady Tigers seemed to be
poised for a blowout.

But Mississippi State hung
around, making several pushes to cut the LSU lead.
Freshman guard Raigyne Moncrief paced the Lady Tigers down the stretch, getting
to the basket at will to keep the Bulldogs at bay.

"This has happened now three
or four times this year where good teams have made runs, we've called timeouts,
and we've answered it right back," said Mississippi State coach Vic Schaefer. "Tonight
we answered it against a top-15 team, and I'm really excited to see that out of
my kids."

The foursome combined to
score 61 of the Lady Tigers' 65 points, but McKinney's break-out performance
turned out to be the difference for LSU.

"Shanece has come into her own as far as taking on ownership
of being that post defender on the low block," Caldwell said. "... Shanece is that
player that has improved every year. I like that she's become this clean-up
woman on the weak side with those offensive rebounds."